Argentina took an early lead with a penalty from their Italy-based fly-half Tomás Albornoz at the Stadio Friuli in Udine (home of Serie A side Udinese).
Twelve minutes in, Italy were looking to make some meaningful inroads into the Argentine half when second row Federico Ruzza found himself out on the wing and, more significantly, knocking on the ball. Toulouse fullback Juan Cruz Mallia was the beneficiary, conjuring an opportunistic score as he snaffled the loose ball and sidestepped the desperate, sliding attempted tackle of Italy wing Louis Lynagh. Benetton man Albornoz was successful with his 23rd attempt of 27 kicks from the tee this season: 0-10.
Half an hour had almost been played when powerful winger Rodrigo Isgró captured a high-hoisted ball, outmuscling his opposing player. The former sevens man, now of Harlequins, gave a one-handed offload to supporting second row Franco Molina, leading to a phase that ended with scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou scoring in the right-hand corner. Albornoz continued to impress with his touchline conversion: 0-17.
While Italy’s first points of the match weren’t pretty, they were effective: a penalty try from a collapsed maul on the Argentine line that gave the hosts both an automatic seven points and sent Saracens’ Juan Martín González to the sin bin. Italy had given themselves a much-needed lifeline after a first half that was firmly in the Pumas’ control.
Three minutes into the second half and Italy took three points, moving patiently through over ten phases before an itchy trigger finger caused Argentina to err offside. Allan clawed the difference back to four points.
Any immediate hopes of an Azzurri comeback were extinguished when a lineout to Argentina on the home 5m line set up a well-worked maul, out of which tighthead Joel Sclavi emerged to score the Pumas’ third try. On his current form, Albornoz was never going to miss with the conversion: 13-24.
Italy got an unpleasant taste of how quickly Argentina can execute a meaningful counterattack, the home team gifting possession to the Pumas while looking intentful on the visitors’ 5m line and watching on as Albornoz scored at the other end of the field thanks to some committed supporting runs. The 27-year-old converted his own try from in front of the posts. The scoreboard read 13-31 with the hour approaching.
With 15 minutes remaining, captain Michele Lamaro uncharacteristically fell off a tackle on Matias Moroni, and that was all the Pumas needed to cut loose, replacement back Santiago Cordero going over. Speaking of out-of-character acts, Albornoz shanked the kick: 13-36.
Mercifully for the Azzurri, they hit back in quick fashion with a pick-and-go try from replacement front rower Giacomo Nicotera of Stade Francais. Allan was unable to add the two points that would have given a sheen to the score, which read 18-36 up until the 72nd minute when Pumas replacement forward Matías Alemanno (Gloucester) went over unopposed from a 5m lineout. Albornoz, back on song, converted: 13-43.
Wing Bautista Delguy made sure of a final flourish for Argentina, with some admittedly poor defence from Italy paving the way for a delightful series of over-the-shoulder passing to supporting Pumas runners, seen off by Delguy.
It was only right that Player of the Match Albornoz had the final say on the scoreboard, his conversion sailing through the posts for a final score of 18-50.
